Emma Smith – 3rd April 1888

Emma was the first to be murdered within White Chapel in 1888. However, it is debated as to whether Emma is the first victim of the Ripper or whether it all started with the Canonical Five. Emma was a widowed prostitute with two children. On 3rd April 1888, she was attacked on Osborn Street as she was walking through Whitechapel. Emma was stabbed and raped with a blunt object in the attack. The attackers robbed Emma and left her for dead. Although severely injured, Emma managed to walk back to her lodging and told friends that she had been attacked by three men. Emma’s friends walked her to the hospital where she died the following day due to peritonitis following virginal wounding.

We have to remember that this was a time in which violence, robberies and sexual attacks were very common. So Emma is most likely not a victim of the Ripper.

Martha Tabram – 7th August 1888

Martha is another debated victim of Jack the Ripper. She was previously married to a warehouse foreman so had a good standard of living. However, after having two children Martha started to drink heavily and this had a huge impact on her marriage and contributed to the end of it. After the end of Martha’s marriage, she started selling trinkets to survive but ended up in prostitution. Martha and her friend “Polly” had been drinking in a pub in George yard on the night of her death. They were drinking with two soldiers and they each took one of the soldiers to have paid sex with them. Martha took her soldier to a narrow street just off George Yard. PC Barratt noticed a soldier loitering around George Yard at around 2am and the soldier had said that he was waiting for a friend. PC Barratt told the soldier to move on and so he did.

At around 3:30am, a cab driver saw a body on a stairwell in George Yard but didn’t report it. Martha’s body was officially found at 4:45am on the first floor landing of a building in George Yard. The assault was described as frenzied with 39 stab wounds from the throat to the lower abdomen. 38 of the stab wounds were done with a pen knife and 1 with a dagger. Martha’s lungs, liver and heart were all punctured, with the heart wound ultimately causing her death. All of these wounds were caused whilst Martha was alive.

The police believed that the soldier may have committed the murder so they set up ID parades with police witness and Martha’s friend, Polly. Polly picked out two soldiers, however they had alibi’s and were back in their barracks by 11pm.

Killers don’t begin with murder, their crimes escalate over time. Were these two murders preparation attacks by the Ripper?

Mary Nichols – 31st August 1888

Mary is the first of the Canonical Five, believed by most to be the actual first murder of the Ripper. Mary was married to a printer named William Nichols but by the 1870’s, Mary’s drinking had become a problem and the couple separated in 1880. Although William blamed the drinking, it is also claimed that William was having an affair. After the separation, William took custody of their five children and paid Mary five shillings a week but stopped when he found out that Mary had become a prostitute.

Charles Cross, a carriage-man, was heading to work along Bucks Row when he spotted a bundle on the floor. Bucks row was a dimly lit street with workmen’s houses on one side and warehouses on the other. Cross was soon joined by Robert Paul who was also on his way to work. Paul checked to see if Mary was breathing whilst Cross held Mary’s hands. Paul thought he could feel shallow breaths so they left Mary in hopes that they could find a policeman on the way to work. They narrowly missed PC Neil who was on his rounds at 3:45am and spotted Mary. Cross and Paul came across PC Thain who joined PC Neil and they called surgeon Dr Ralph Llewellyn, who arrived at around 4am and pronounced Mary dead. Dr Llewellyn believed Mary had died within the hour as her legs were still warm.

As spectators started to gather, Mary’s body was taken to the mortuary and the scene was washed down. Inspector John Spratling attended the mortuary and checked under Mary’s clothing. It was only then that it was realised, that Mary’s abdomen had been ripped open and the killer had continued to stab the open wound. In doing this, the killer stabbed her liver. Mary had two knife wounds cut from left to right on her neck, one of these was so severe that it was cut down to her spinal cord.

Annie Chapman – 7th September 1888

Annie is the second of the Canonical Five. She also had been previously married with children and living and working in Windsor. The couple separated due to Annie’s drinking habit. Annie was dying of consumption and on the night of her murder had a violent argument with another person at her lodging house, this left her injured. She’d been allowed to sit in the kitchen of the lodging house for a while but at 1:35am she was asked to leave as she had no lodging money. The night watchmen said that Annie had clearly been drinking and if she had money for alcohol, she should have money for the bed. Annie pleaded to stay but was escorted off the premises.

Witnesses state they saw Annie between 5:15am-5:30am with a Male over 40, taller than Annie who was wearing a felt hat and may have been a ‘foreigner’. Annie’s body was found by John Davis in the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street. John ran back into the house and told three other residents and all four men went to inform the police. First on the scene was Inspector Joseph Chandler followed by Police Surgeon, Dr George Phillips. Dr Phillips believe that Annie had been grabbed by the chin and partially strangled before having her throat cut and the killer attempting to sever her head. Annie’s abdomen had been entirely laid open and her intestines pulled out then placed on her shoulder. It was stated at the Coroner’s inquest that Annie may have been killed for her womb as the killer cut it out and took it.

Central News Agency – The Letter 29th September 1888

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The Central News Agency received the letter on the 27th and forwarded it to the Metropolitan Police on the 29th. This letter was written in red ink and was allegedly from Jack the Ripper, the name that the killer gave to himself and that was first used in this letter. He addressed the letter “Dear Boss” and he boasts about the murders. The letter threatens that the next victim will have her ears cut off but the Police thought it was a hoax until the next double murders.

Elizabeth Stride – 30th September 1888

Elizabeth Stride was a 43 year old educated linguist and business owner from Sweden. She was previously married to John Thomas Stride and they divorced in 1877, after which Elizabeth became addicted to alcohol. This lead to a downward spiral into prostitution whilst living in a lodging house at 32 Flower and Dean Street. Elizabeth sometimes cleaned the rooms here for sixpence.

On the 29th September, she was seen drinking at the Queen’s Head pub and buy 11pm she was seen by two labourers in the doorway of the Bricklayer’s Arms pub on Settle Street. The two men, J. Best and John Gardener told the Coroner’s inquest that they were surprised at how the man was hugging and kissing Elizabeth. They shouted, jokingly, at Elizabeth and the man: “Watch out, that’s Leather Apron getting around you!”.

Elizabeth was seen multiple times by multiple witnesses between 11:30pm and 00:30am in the company of a man. PC Smith saw Elizabeth at Dutfields Yard, which was a dark and narrow courtyard just off Berner Street. At 00:45am, Israel Schwartz witnessed what he believed to be a domestic incident and not wanting to get involved, he crossed the street. He heard Elizabeth scream three times and the man with her pushed her into the dark courtyard. At this point the man notices Israel and shouts “Lipski!”. This was a phrase used to insult those of Jewish Heritage. Israel noticed another man standing nearby, who seemed to follow Israel and in a panic Israel ran until he was away from the location.

Louis Diemshutz was arriving back on his horse and cart to Dutfield’s Yard after spending the day selling cheap jewellery at 1am. Suddenly, the horse stopped and refused to move. Louis got down from his cart to see what the issue was and he saw a bundle on the floor. He lit a match and realised it was a woman. He ran into a nearby club to raise the alarm and a number of men came out with him. They looked at the body and realised her throat was cut but the body had not been mutilated like the previous. The police believed that Louis had interrupted the killer and that the killer was possibly still in the courtyard when Louis had arrived. Using the time when Louis went into the club to escape but meaning that the killer had not satisfied his lust for mutilation.

Catherine Eddowes – 30th September 1888

Catherine had three children with Thomas Conway and they separated in 1880 due to Catherine’s drinking. Catherine claimed she had married Thomas, however there are no records confirming this. Catherine then started living with John Kelly. On September 29th, Catherine was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and was then released at 00:55am on the 30th. Catherine headed towards Mitre Square which was patrolled every 15 minutes by PC Watkins. At 1:30am Watkins checked Mitre Square and all was quiet. Three men left the Imperial Club on Duke Street and believed they saw Catherine walking with a man at 1:35am. They identified her clothing at the police station after her murder. At 1:44am, PC Watkins returned to Mitre Square and discovered Catherine’s body.

Catherine’s throat was cut almost to the spine and her abdomen had been ripped open and mutilated. Her face was so mutilated that she couldn’t be identified from description and was only identified as Catherine when a friend recognised the pawn tickets she had. There were V-shaped incisions in Catherine’s cheeks, her eyelids and ears had been cut and the tip of her nose sliced off. Catherine’s left kidney and half of her uterus had been taken, along with a part of the apron Catherine was wearing. It is believed, that as the light in the yard was defective, the killer must have acted in complete darkness and due to this must have anatomical knowledge.

The missing part of Cathrine’s apron was found at 2:55am by PC Alfred Long in a doorway on Goulston Street and it was covered in blood and faeces. It looked like a knife blade had been wiped on the apron. Above where the apron lay, there was some writing on the wall, “The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing.”

The location of the graffiti was a largely Jewish populated part of London and the Met Police feared that it would cause racial unrest if not cleaned up before morning. However, the City of London Police believed the writing to be important evidence in Catherine’s murder and should be left til morning so it could be photographed. Sir Charles Warren, the Met Commissioner, arrived between 5-5:30am and ordered for the graffiti to be washed from the wall. He believed that it would cause the Jewish people more harm and as it was Sunday morning, there would be large crowds around for the Sunday markets. Major Smith from the City of London Police was furious at Sir Warren for the decision to wash the graffiti.

The Postcard

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It was at this time that the police decided to release the letter they had from the person claiming to be the killer. A postcard arrived at the same time and the handwriting was the same as the letter. The police started to take the original letter more seriously as the postcard wrote about the double murders and referenced to the killer not having enough time with the first victim. This case became international news, due to the Ripper playing with the police and the gruesome details of the murders becoming more public. The police started house to house enquires and handed out over 1000 fliers asking for information. Another package, containing a partial kidney, was sent to George Lusk, the Chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. It was companied by a letter stating that the other half of the kidney had been eaten and the author claimed to be the Ripper. It is speculated that the kidney belonged to Catherine Eddowes, however it was preserved so it is also speculated that it may have been a hoax.

Mary Kelly – 9th November 1888

Mary Kelly is the final Canonical victim and was 25 years old at the time of her murder. She had previously lived with her partner, Joseph Barnett, at 13 Miller’s Court. However, Joseph had become unemployed and they became behind with their rent. So to make money, Mary started to prostitute herself and this caused a lot of friction between her and Joseph. Mary then moved a homeless prostitute in to live with them and Joseph decided to move out.

Anne Cox, Mary’s neighbour, saw Mary at midnight walking into a room with a man and said that Mary was so drunk she could hardly speak. At 2am, George Hutchinson met Mary on Commercial Street and she asked him for sixpence but he had no money. Mary walked off to find a client in order to make money. A male from the opposite direction tapped Mary on the shoulder and said something to her, they both started laughing. He put his arm around Mary and she lead him past George into Miller’s Court. George stayed for 45 minutes but left when Mary didn’t come out. At around 4am, Mary’s neighbours heard cries of “Oh Murder!” but ignored it as they thought it was a domestic or a brawl.

John McCarthy sent his assistant, Thomas Bowyer to collect rent from Mary at 10:45am but there was no reply to the knocking on the door. Thomas looked through Mary’s window and saw Mary’s body. He then ran back to John and they informed the Police. At 11:15am, Police Surgeon Dr George Bagster Phillips arrived, followed by Inspector Abberline at 11:30am. Nobody entered the house for two hours as they were told bloodhounds were coming to try and get a scent of the killer. However, the bloodhounds never arrived.

Mary’s body was the most mutilated of all the victims. Her skin was carved from her thighs and abdomen, with her abdominal cavity emptied. The killer had hacked her face, mutilated her arms, cut off her breasts and cut off her eyelids, chin and lips. Mary’s neck was severed to the bone. Between her feet, the killer had laid Mary’s liver and under her head was Mary’s uterus, kidneys and one of her breasts. The other breast was by her right foot and her intestines lay alongside the right of her body. Mary’s spleen lay along the left side of her body. The killer removed Mary’s heart and skinned her forehead.

Dr Thomas Bond was called in to profile the person responsible. After reading all the witness reports and looking at all the killings, Dr Bond believed that at least five of the women had been killed by the same person. He believed the killer to be physically strong, cool and daring but would also be middle-aged and unremarkable. He thought that the killer may even live with respectable people who don’t know what he’s doing but would think him to be odd. Thomas also thought that the killer did not have any anatomical knowledge.

Rose Mylett – 20th December 1888

Rose was found in Clarkes Yard, however her injuries did not link to the MO of Jack and so she is not believed to be one of his victims.

Alice McKenzie – 17th July 1889

Alice was found in Castle Alley by PC Andrews and her body was still warm with her throat cut and skirts raised, exposing her abdomen which had a zig-zag, superficial wound. Dr George Bagster Phillips examined Alice’s body but did not believe that she was a victim of the Ripper. However, Police Commissioner James Monroe spoke to the Home Office and they believed the murders of Rose and Alice to be connected to the Ripper investigation. Alice’s body was also examined by Dr Thomas Bond at the mortuary and he also believed it was the work of the Ripper.

The Legless Torso – 10th September 1889

The legless torso of a woman was found beneath railway arches in Pinchin Street and she had a gash across her abdomen which had occurred during the dismemberment of the body. Due to this, the murder has not been attributed to the Ripper.

Frances Coles – 13th February 1891

At 00:15am Frances was found in Swallow Gardens by PC Thompson with blood still flowing from her throat. Swallow Gardens was a dark passage that ran underneath railway arches. Frances was still alive when Thompson found her but died soon after. Before her death, Frances had spent two days with a volatile sailor named James Thomas Sadler and they had been seen arguing numerous times. On the night Frances died, James returned to his lodging house, covered in blood. At 10:15am, he sold his knife to a fellow sailor, Duncan Campbell. The police arrested James but he had an alibi that he could prove. The knife was also shown to not be sharp enough to cause the wounds and this meant that the case against him was dropped. James was proven to be at sea during the time of the other murders.

Then the killings stopped.